Innocence up in Smoke
by Crocy98
Summary: What if the whole world you knew, and all the people in it disappeared by week's end? And in their place a world of the living dead and chaos became all you knew? Follow the Rugrats in their teenage years as they survive the zombie apocalypse and destruction that follows it. Rated T for violence and some dark themes.
1. Chapter 1

I found this on my computer from last March and I thought, "Hey, might as well post and see what happens.." Thus, here is a sort of Rugrats-meets-Zombie Apocalypse tale which revolves around the Rugrats gang in their teens dealing with the global catastrophe and the struggles they encounter along the way.

Rated T for Violence and dark themes

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Do It

"You do it." Chuckie said on the verge of tears, tightly gripping a crimson stained baseball bat with the blood of his former neighbors. His hair was matted down with layers of sweat and grime from the past few weeks. Earlier that week the power went out for good, which he knew meant no water, and the greater sign civilization was truly falling apart.

Even though just a month before the greatest worry in the world for him was his Biology final coming up and trying to get on time to his shifts after school at a local supermarket; that seemed like a life time ago.

_How did it happen? _That was the sole thing that was nagging at him since this whole thing started. _How did it go from one day, his family and friends were having BBQs in his backyard without a care in the world to having to smash in the skulls of their reanimated bodies? _

He knew it was pointless to worry about such things in a time like this, when the real importance was survival and not scientific thinking. But he just couldn't stop asking him what the hell caused it.

_Disease? Biological Warfare? Global Warming? _He lightly laughed at the last one, he didn't even believe in global warming when the world wasn't in a state of chaos.

A low, exasperated groan brought him back to reality as he saw standing a mere ten feet in front of him was his late stepmother Kira. Her simple dress she always wore was tattered, her hair overgrown and in greasy waves over her face, and her glasses were broken and hanging off of her left ear. The other ear was shriveled up like a prune and was barely visible.

Kira was one of the first to turn on their block. Chuckie remembered watching her from the hallway, rapped in layers of blankets, with a roasting fever and random seizures ripping through her body as sweat ran down her face until her heart finally stopped beating.

He saw himself again lying down to Kimi that night with her crying into his shoulder, and himself smoothing her hair telling her everything was going to be okay, even though he knew society was crumbling as every second passed.

Chas, Chuckie and Kimi's father, heaved Kira onto his shoulder minutes after death and brought her to the basement. There he bound her in an old tool closet with duct tape and bungee cords.

He told his kids not to tell anyone about this, for the government said when someone dies you should immediately bludgeon their cranium in or their body would "resurrect" and violently attack you and eat you alive. Chuckie remembered that was one of the last announcements before the cable network went down and the Earth went black for good.

He couldn't believe it personally, that the dead would come back to life, but he remembered witnessing it firsthand. It was his last day at work before he realized the true magnitude of what was actually going on.

Sheets of rain were pouring down outside, cracks of thunder lighting up the parking lot of the local supermarket. The grocery store was running off of the emergency generator and the aisles were lit with dripping candles as literally hundreds of people fought one another for the last can of beans or tuna. In the entrance of the store there was a woman in her late sixties, crying out in pain as a mass horde of shoppers trampled over her, not caring that they were crunching upon her feeble bones.

Chuckie remembered watching from his cashier station in complete terror as she wiggled on the ground, her face going white, as her body finally collapsed on the ground like a ragdoll. He saw a deep indentation on her skull, probably from where a shopper slammed his or her foot upon; accident or purposely he didn't know.

He felt like he was going to throw up, as bile rose from his throat and overflowed in the waste bin under the cash register. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he saw as the line of people waiting stretched all the way down the aisle and to the back of the store.

_My God_. He thought to himself as he got back to focusing on scanning the overabundance of canned goods of the man in front of him. The man wore a black winter cap with a baggy beige jacket as he frantically moved back and forth on his heels. _He seems to be worrying about something. _Chuckie thought to himself. _But_ _duh, aren't we all in times like this_?

Finally scanning the last can of soup of a hundred or so and a dozen 24 packs of bottled water, Chuckie said, "$349 and 71 cents."

Suddenly, the man furiously drew a snub-nosed revolver out of his jacket and placed the muzzle to his head, slowly clicking the round into the chamber. Whispering almost inaudibly, his breath smelling like strong liquor, "Are you sure about that?" As he pushed the carriage with one hand and the other grasping the revolver aiming towards Chuckie's cranium as he walked backwards towards the exit.

Frozen in place, not knowing what to do, he watched as the man exited the store. As he was about to place the revolver back into his jacket and hail his goods to his vehicle, a throatily growl echoed throughout the store as three hospital patients, two men and a young woman, jumped upon the man and mauled him viciously. As he screamed uncontrollable and tried to reach his revolver which was a mere couple inches from his fingertips, the woman's teeth ripped into his neck, causing blood and tissue to flow over the floor. The man's body soon went limp as the three patients started to eat away at his body.

Feeling ill again, vomit escaped Chuckie's mouth and spread over the plain tile floor. Soon the entire store was filled with screams as customers plowed out the doors, some in such extreme panic not bothering to notice twenty more hospital patients colliding into them at the entrance and ripping into their soft fleshly bodies with their teeth and overgrown nails.

Looking around frantically, not knowing what to do, Chuckie eyed an abandoned, filled to the brim carriage with non-perishable food and bottled water rapped plastic near the back of the store; a mere couple feet from the emergency exit.

Tossing his uniform apron to the ground, he sprinted towards the carriage. A whole seven seconds. That was all it took for him to cover the hundred feet as adrenaline coursed through him. Gripping the carriage with his clammy hands, he shoved the emergency door open and escaped into the stormy night as the rain soaked his lean body.

Hauling ass towards his car in the far back row near the delivery loading dock, he looked to his right to see a horde of infected tearing away at dozens of shoppers near the storefront entrance parking, who pleaded as they were torn apart mercilessly.

Swallowing bail sloshing in his mouth, he collided with his paint-chipped Corolla, hysterically tried to find his keys. Finally getting them from his back pocket, he went through the chain trying to find the correct key as a horrific _CRASH _occurred behind him.

He turned to see the dead smashing through the glass doors and shuffled towards him, their bloody arms raised pointing at him. Jumping in fright from the sound, the keys fell out of his grasp and struck the slippery asphalt. Cursing under his breath, he fell to his knees and desperately tried to spot the keys.

_Thirty yards_…the dead were gaining speed and were about to be upon him. Just as all hope was lost, a glint near his front tire caught his attention. _My keys! _He cried aloud and grabbed the slick metal and by luck slammed the correct key into his door and got the vehicle opened.

_Twenty yards…_they were so close to the car he could make out the features of each of the infected. Popping the trunk, he shoved as much of the groceries into the cramped space and the back seat as possible before there was barely any room left for him.

_Eight yards…_Shoving the empty carriage at the infected, causing one to stumble and fall to the ground, he threw himself in the car and attempted to start the motor. As the key was turned, it instantaneously was followed by a cough and sputter as the engine died. "Shit!" Chuckie screamed aloud as he helplessly turned the key to try to make the car start with no luck.

_Two yards…_they were an arm's length from Chuckie as finally with a burst of exhaust the engine came alive. Slamming his door as the dead smashed into the hood of the car, their jaws moving up-and-down as they tried to bit their way through the glass. Sweating like crazy, his foot collided with the peddle as he went in reverse; the dead fell to the ground off the hood in a puddle of their own blood and low hanging entrails.

Pulling out of the grocery store, and by some miracle making it home with his stash of supplies, he was welcomed home as a hero with hugs and cheers from Kimi and the rest of his childhood gang. Tommy and Dil were staying over for his parents were out of country on yet _another_ month long Invention Convention in southern France. The two were certain their parents probably didn't make it for all airports were shut down the week before and the United States lost contact with the European Union the following night.

No matter how awful it was for either of them to say, they both deep down knew their parents were probably dead or have already turned like Kira who was locked up in the basement.

The Deville twins, Phil and Lil, were also staying at the Finister's until their parents returned from wherever the National Guard took them. While at work a matter of days before paramedics and EMTs were taking everyone's blood and checking for a certain type of skin rash on the forearm. Both Howard and Betty were positive on having the skin condition, and they were instantly taken away with more than three-fourths of their coworkers to an unknown location.

The two of them were only aloud a thirty second phone call home to their children, "Hey pumpkins, we're safe and we just want you to know we love you two with all our hearts and we want you to take care of yourselves for a little while. Okay? We love you kiddos, we'll talk later…"

These were the last words they heard of their parents.

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What did you think? Sorry if any of it upset anyone, and tell if you think i should continue. Reviews appreciated! -Crocy98


	2. Chapter 2

Well, here is chapter 2. Thanka to those who reviewed, favorited, followed! It is much appreciated. Anyways, our story continue...

Disclaimer: This chapter might be disturbing to some. You've been warned...no hate then please.

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"Come on Chuckie, you got to overcome this fear of yours…do it already." Tommy barked at Chuckie harshly. He used to never talk to his best friend like this, with hate and deep irritation in his voice. But he couldn't help it…the world had ended without a doubt and his friend still couldn't grasp the concept of killing these reanimated flesh eaters.

Somehow during the night Kira escape her basement tool shed prison and began wandering the house looking for fresh meat. Everyone armed with flashlights and whatever makeshift weapons they could find followed a blood trail around the house for more than an hour until Tommy and Chuckie tracked her down to the attic on the top floor.

Chaz stayed back in the first floor living room, the main base of operations for the group. For he couldn't comprehend the idea of watching his "sweetheart" be battered to death by the children she once called her own.

Well, that was the obvious reason to stay back for him. But that morning he awoke with a scorching fever and welts the size of grapes appearing over his forearms, thighs, and neck. He tried his best to act strong around the kids. So he just popped a couple Tylenol, drank some water and hoped for the best.

But it soon became worse. As a raspy cough tore through his throat like a knife and his muscles became faint and uncontrollable like the "rats" when they were infants.

He knew he wasn't going to last the night when he began fainting every hour and his memories began to flutter. Once he even forgot the name of his own son like he was some dementia-ridden elderly.

Nonetheless, he wanted to be there to protect the children, but soon he came to the conclusion it was going to be impossible for him to be of any support to them. And he was just going to become like another flesh-eating adult who roamed the streets…

_They weren't humans anymore. Hell, they were worse than wild dogs. So what was the big deal about killing them?_ Tommy thought.

But Tommy knew what was stopping Chuckie from lifting that bat and knocking his former step mom's brains out. _She was family._ Simple as that, she was there Chuckie's entire life in the ups-and-downs.

She was the one who made him not to be scared of "the guy on the Oatmeal Box". She taught him how to play chess and taught him how to do Algebraic equations by the time he was nine.

The year before when Chuckie was dumped by his first girlfriend, Catherine, for being too much of a "dork", Kira was the one who comforted Chuckie and told him he was too good for a bitch like Cat.

And yes, Chuckie swears to this day Kira called her _that_.

In an instant though, all those wonderful memories were erased and replaced with a horrific, grotesque image of the reawakened dead corpse of her body who craved her son's flesh.

Even so, it wasn't like Tommy didn't have his own fair share of killing family members. The day before he encountered his ninety-two year old year grandfather Lou staggering around in the Finster's front lawn. He knew the older gentleman checked out in his sleep from a heart attack a week before, so there was no way he miraculously was alive.

Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his Dad's old hatchet and crossed the front lawn to his grandfather who was stumbling into the trash littered road. Slowly approaching his grandfather form behind, hatchet raised he felt his heart beating through his chest. A line of sweat was forming around his brow.

Eyeing the back of his granddad's head, he saw his hearing aid was still tightly placed in his ear. This caused Tommy to smile slightly for a second, but then was replaced by depression as he learned his favorite relative was never coming back.

"Sorry Grandpa." He whispered, as the hatchet collided down upon the old man's cranium. The walking corpse swayed side to side, until the hatchet was ripped out and the body fell like a collapsing statue to the asphalt ground.

Not looking back at his mangled relative, Tommy ran back inside before any of the other staggering corpses fifty yards or so down the road caught a glimpse of him.

Tommy would admit he did shed a decent amount of tears over his grandfather, but he knew that _thing_ lying in a pool of its own blood on the curb wasn't his granddad. _So why couldn't Chuckie just swing the stupid bat!_

"Damn it Chuckie, whatever soul was once inside her is now gone. Just get it over with!" Tommy screamed now, losing his patience.

"I-I can't…" Chuckie whimpered until he fell to his knees sobbing and sniffling like crazy. The wooden Louisville Slugger held weakly in his hands clanked to the hardwood floor.

"For God's sake…" Tommy uttered with an exasperated sigh as he drew his arm back and smashed the hatchet into Kira's face. Blood and brain matter spattering Tommy's already tattered and blood stained black zip-up hoodie.

Gritting his teeth, Tommy lifted his stained work boot and kicked Kira's now dead body off of the blade. The body landed with a thud in the darkened corner of the room.

"Now was that so hard?" Tommy asked cross, looking down at Chuckie who finally stopped sobbing.

Followed by Tommy's remark, the entire block fell silent for the first time in which seemed like days. The two friends stood their motionless, taking in the serenity.

It reminded them from one time when they were twelve and they snuck onto the roof one night. Gazing up at the stars as they lied down on the hard concrete center of the roof, they didn't say a word as the enter city fell silent and they were engulfed by the darkness of night.

But without warning, the stillness was shattered as a gunshot resounded through the entire house, bringing all the inhabitants back to reality.

Cliffhanger! Tell me what you think! Any review will be much appreciated. :D -Crocy98


	3. Chapter 3: Gunshots and Bleach

Chapter 3 is here! What was the gunshot about...

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Tommy and Chuckie darted down the stairs, stumbling over each other. Drawing his hatchet from his belt loop and aiming his flashlight forward, Tommy took two steps at a time as he collided through the dividing French doors and landed himself in the living room.

Through disheveled eyes he gasped as he saw in front of him all his childhood friends staring in awe at his brother, Dil.

His younger brother was dressed in a wrinkled black sweatshirt and for seemingly the first time in an eternity, was _not _wearing his signature Sherpa hat from his elementary school days. But this was not what had them all in shock, but it was that the young Pickles grasped a .38 revolver and had the sights drilled on the dead corpse of Chaz. Blood gently escaped the dead elder Finster's head.

He heard Chuckie behind him fall to the ground in sobs, and Lil was already doing the same in the corner of the room.

Dil looked up at his brother who was staring seemingly daggers into him and said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "What? He tried to bite me,"

Turning to the rest of the group, "You should all be thanking me, if I didn't put him down when I did myself and all of you might just be turning into the undead right now."

Kimi stared emotionlessly at the corpse of her father. Her eyes were already glazed over with the fog of war; she became cold to the reality already. "Thanks Dil, if you didn't catch him when you did we all might be zombies right now, good call," Offering him a fist-pump which he immediately accepted.

"See, this is the kind of recognition I should be getting around here," Saying to the room as a whole.

"And thanks Kimi," Giving her a respectable nod, "And I hope you and Chuckie know I did it to protect all of us. I didn't enjoy it whatsoever; it was just what had to be done. I don't know when this…whatever it is will be stopped but I plan on making it out in one piece." Speaking sincerely.

Phil stepped out seemingly from the shadows with a crowbar dangling from his left hand, speaking frantically, "Jesus Christ man, where the hell did you find Chaz anyways?"

At the mention of his father's name Chuckie muffled a half-cough-half-cry, still cradling himself on the carpeted floor.

"I found him next to Kira's 'cell' with a bite mark on his neck. I guess he tried to unlock her or something and she went berserk and hid in the attic," Dil's voice gradually went softer, thinking back, "I barely walked past the door when he attacked me, mouth chompin' up-and-down and his eyes all crazy. I pushed him off of me and barely got my gun out in time as he stumbled after me like a hungry animal…"

The entire room went silent, even Chuckie and Lil's crying ceased, "And that was when I pulled the trigger." Dil said with a gulp and much needed breath, blinking creeping tears from his eyes.

With a sigh, Tommy got up, "We'll need to move him and Kir…her body out of here," Realizing the names of Chuckie's deceased parents brought him to crying fits, "Phil, grab a tarp and you and Dil help me move them over to one of our neighbors' yards."

"And the rest of you, can you get started on cleaning this place up?" Tommy asked looking particularly over at the crying Lil and Chuckie.

Lil muttered a distant 'okay' with her eyes glued to the wall in shock. With a sniffle, Chuckie got up weakly and said with partial determinance, "Yeah, sure."

"Ok, thanks, the bleach is under the sink and there are some rags upstairs." Tommy said as himself and Dil and Phil took hold of the tarp and began the long process of removal.

No one could hear Tommy's thoughts as his subconscious told himself…

_God, it's only been a week…how are we going to last a lifetime?_

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Thanks to all those people who keep reading and enjoying the story! It is because of you folk I started up this story again from last March. As always, please read and review, I like to here your voices. What do you think is going to happen next? Until next time... -Crocy98


	4. Chapter 4

If you any have suggestions for the story, feel free to send me a message. Thank you to all those who are following the story (officially or unofficially) it means allot. :) Anyways, here is Chapter 4!

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The work of removing the bodies was long and tedious, especially when they had to get Kira's down two flights of stairs. Such a slow process the bloodstains were all cleaned up by the time they finally managed to get Kira down from the top floor, not to mention get them outside.

They silently buried them both in the dark in their former neighbor's yard (they didn't want to dig up their own yard until it was absolutely necessary) with Kimi watching for any walking corpses nearby with Grandpa Lou's old semi-automatic .22 rifle.

Lou took her and Dil out a couple times to shoot at the range (Tommy was busy with some film project); going against both their parents' jurisdiction, but it was a really fun time, both of them appearing to be natural shooters.

And if they knew the dead would be rising, they would have gone any chance they got for practice. But even from those few short hour-sessions they were still the most "qualified" marksmen, meaning they were the handlers of the two firearms they managed to get their hands on, both of them coming from Lou's drawer.

None of them said any words for the deceased, at least not aloud. Chuckie was staring hopelessly out of his bedroom, his face illuminated by candlelight. Kimi turned away from his look of despair.

It wasn't that she didn't care for her parents, of course she did, but it was just she could see the world was only going to get worse from there and the faster she got her head into "survival mode" the better. _"There'd be times for mourning later_," She told herself, "_But I need to focus on staying alive."_

By the time Dil put down the last shovel of topsoil, the signs of morning were already creeping through the easing night sky.

Through bloodshot eyes bereft of sleep the four slowly made their way to the house, dragging shovels behind them ready to call it a night.

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By the time they got up the sun was already high in the sky and, if Phil's former boy scout skills were correct, it must have been sometime around 1-ish.

Dragging themselves down the stairs, dressed in the same clothes as the night before they sat themselves down in the kitchen and helped themselves to some canned peaches and instant coffee.

Chuckie was sitting on the couch reading a paperback and humming to no one but himself. Not looking up from his book, he said, "You slept well," Smiling to himself as the four bedraggled 'grave diggers' walked in. "I bet you didn't even hear my hammering."

"Hammering?" Tommy asked, sitting down next to him, scratching his itchy head as the rest sat on the floor cross-legged yawning aloud.

"You haven't noticed, well remember how you always said we should get around to boarding up the windows if in case the dead find out we're in? Well, I took the early morning as an opportunity to do just that." Chuckie said with a beaming smile.

Tommy looked around and immediately saw what Chuckie was talking about. The windows were perfectly boarded up with one inch gaps between each board to allow a line of sight. It was perfect. "Awesome dude," Giving Chuckie a much earned high-five, his smile going wider at his sense of accomplishment, "How long were you up doing this?" Looking around at the new perimeter security.

"Only four or five hours," He said with a shrug as if it was nothing, "And I thought after this we could build some seven or eight foot tall fence around the front yard to keep those biters out of our lawn, and so that we can walk around and stuff without drawing their attention as much."

_Wow, holy crap, who took that depressed kid and replaced him with this engineering genius! _Tommy thought to himself as he nodded his head smiling, "Yeah, yeah…let's do it. Only thing we got to do is make sure we got enough 2-by-4s and nails to last for the whole thing."

Chuckie responded with a laugh, "I'm a step ahead of you; I already got all the materials," Sipping his coffee before turning the page of his book, "I drove your mini-van over to Rick's Hardware and stripped the place dry. We got more than enough to build a fence, maybe even enough to block off the whole road." Pointing to the mini-van parked out front loaded with hardware supplies from the cab to the roof.

"What?" Tommy blurted, "Do you know how dangerous that is?!" Infuriated with his friend, "Rick's is more than ELEVEN MILES AWAY. And to go by yourself, without telling anyone!"

"What are you so mad about?" Chuckie retorted, "I'm fine, as you can see, and we got all the stuff needed for building projects. You got a little shut eye and I put myself to use while you were catching some Z's. No harm done. I'm only trying to make myself useful for once." Putting his hands up in mock defense.

"Damn it, Chuckie. I would have been happy to go with you," Tommy said, "And what if you encountered some walker out there? Huh?"

Chuckie laughed again slightly, which made Tommy grow even more pissed, "Again, one step ahead of you. Inside the place were only two zombies: first one I took down with the bat when his back was turned and the other one was stuck under a pile of toppled over paint cans. I say again, no-biggie."

"Just," Tommy was too tired to deal with this, "Don't do it again, okay? I wouldn't want anything to happen to our 'engineer'." Tommy added mockingly, despite it was more humorous when he said it aloud.

"Of course…" Chuckie said with an exasperated breath, before turning back to _The Catcher in the Rye_.

"Hey Chuckie?" Phil asked Chuckie concerned, as the rest of the group seemingly dispersed.

Putting his book down, "Yeah Phil, what's up?"

His lips somewhat trembling, "Have you seen Lil?"

Chuckie pointed behind him to the plush chair near the screen door, on it sat Lil wrapped up in a blanket, staring blankly at the wall.

"God, how long has she been like that?" Phil probed, walking over next to his sister and giving her hug, which she seemingly didn't even react to, her eyes still glued to the wall.

"Since last night, I think she fell asleep for a little bit, but I can't be sure. I think she is just shell-shocked, there's a lot of crap going on these days." Looking back down at his paperback.

"You don't need to tell me," Phil said, checking her forehead like a concerned mother, "Do you think she'll get out of this…trance or whatever she's in?"

His eyes scrolling down the margins of the book, "Give her a day," Turning the page and speed-reading still, "She'll come around."

"I hope." Phil said, giving her a kiss on the forehead before going to find Tommy to figure out the plan of action.

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Thanks for reading. All reviews are helpful! :) -Crocy98


	5. Ch 5: Best Thing That Happened All Week

Here is Chapter 5! :D

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The rest of the day went by relatively smoothly. With bellies full of peaches and coffee they set out on creating the wooden fence to keep the biters out of their front yard.

According to Chuckie's schematics, the fence was going to be eight feet high reinforced with metal railing to prevent any collection of walkers from getting inside the home. To allow them access out of the driveway, a sturdy plywood gate was laid out so they could quickly drive in to safety, without letting any zombies latch onto the car in the process.

And if they had enough wood and nails left over, a single room tree house in the front yard's oak tree to allow them to peek over the barrier to check if there were any biters hanging around the fence without themselves getting noticed. The tree house would also duel as a "sniper's nest" if some swarm got caught up on trying to get inside and they had to pick them off.

The work went pretty slow. With Lil still in a post-traumatic state in the living room, Chuckie managing the operation and giving orders about what-goes-where, and Kimi on guard duty to prevent any zombies from interfering with their work; it left only Tommy, Dil, and Phil to do the heavy lifting.

Nonetheless, by the time the sun went down they managed to get the framework and supports into the ground, leaving the "meat" of the barrier to be put up hopefully the next day.

"God what a day," Dil said, stretching his back out in the living room, sore from all the manual labor, "I haven't worked this hard since the time I had to stay after school and clean all the gum off of Mr. Cubic's desks."

"Well, when have you e_ver _worked hard?" Phil asked with a laugh, plopping down on the couch with a sigh of relief, letting exhaustion take over him as he slowly sipped a bottle of water; praying for sleep.

"True, true," He added with a smile, flipping through a month old issue (and probably the last one ever) of _Aliens & Humanity: The Missing Link_.

"You ever get old of that stupid magazine?" Kimi questioned lightheartedly from her spot on the floor, leaning over her acoustic guitar; trying to tune the old thing.

"To be honest, I had my doubts after May's issue prophesying that E.T.'s built the Great Wall of China and killed off the dinosaurs to allow humanity to survive," Dil implored, "But if anything, their stories help keep me sane."

Stifling a laugh, "And I bet you don't even hear the irony in that."

Returning the good humor, "Yeah…not at all," Smiling one of his genuine grins as the two broke out into fits of laughter.

Appearing from the guest bedroom with a clean t-shirt and the smell of sweat masked by layers of Axe, Tommy leaned over the couch with a grin similar to Dil's plastered on his face, "Hey, what do you guys want for dinner?"

Looking up from her guitar, "I checked the stockpile this morning, everything fresh has gone bad except for some pasta. I'd suggest we boil that up before we get flaky angel hairs on our hands." before turning back to the stringed-instrument, strumming a couple chords to guarantee its sound tuning.

Through a yawn and squinted eyes, "Sounds good," Phil said, "I'll go prepare the sauce." As he made his way to the kitchen he was suddenly stopped in his tracks by two words.

Coming weakly from the corner of the living room, from seemingly under a mess of blankets, "I'll help." Lil called, getting up feebly, everyone's eyes on her.

Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair in every which way and a huge sweatshirt drowning her small frame. Tripping over herself, Kimi and Phil immediately ran to her aid, helping her make her way to the kitchen.

For all of them, especially Phil, it was the greatest thing that happened all week.

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As always, thank you to all those who make this story possible..the readers and reviewers! :) Your feed-back and recognition keeps me going, knowing some people are enjoying the material I am putting out. Sorry, not my most "exciting" chapter but I felt like it had to be put in.

Until next time -Crocy98


	6. Chapter 6: New Job and Rising Hell

Chapter 6 here! :) Note: This chapter contains violence and strong language just to inform people. Anyways, enjoy!

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_THUMPP! FOOMP!_

The hammer made as another nail went into the board, securing it to the barrier's frame; Chuckie's vision finally beginning to take form.

It was the next day and they jumped right into work at daybreak, now with Lil joining the team of blue-collar workers. Years of sports gave her some robust forearms, allowing her to easily increase progress on the fence.

Deep inside she still felt helpless, but putting herself to work allowed her to get her mind off of the present hell that surrounded them; even if it was only for a few seconds when concentrating on driving the nail into the board.

Standing on the balcony of her parents' former bedroom, with the .22 resting her in hands and a pair of binoculars dangling from her neck she eyed the street and the surrounding area. Looking for any signs of movement, zombies or otherwise, she focused on the sounds _not_ overwhelmed by the constant hammering of the wanna-be carpenters down below.

All she could hear was their relentlessly pounding amongst the silent Southern California air. She didn't get why any biters haven't been drawn to them yet, especially for their house being seemingly the only place of activity in the whole of Los Angeles suburbia.

In the two days of work they encountered only one zombie, an old hobbling one wearing a blood stained wife-beater, who Dil took down with a single blow to the head with his work hammer before Kimi could even raise her rifle.

With a sigh, she leaned against the railing and stared aimlessly ahead. Allot of the time she hated being the one constantly on guard duty, even though she always volunteered for it, but she couldn't help but be overly cautious in this new world.

By being up in the second story balcony, away from the far more dangerous street down below, she was certainly ten times safer than her 'gang' working precariously; not bothering to look up every couple seconds for an approaching biter.

Call her selfish, but she was never going to throw herself into a potentially dangerous situation unless it was absolutely necessary. Screw the group, her survival was first and foremost. Not to mention being the "honorary guard" gave her their only rifle which could drop a dozen or so zombies in half a minute.

Above the hammering the purr of a motor appeared, bringing Kimi back to reality as she strained to see where it was coming from. Suddenly, multiple engines of the same caliber pierced the air. Her crew down below didn't even seem fazed by it, for their ears were already overwhelmed by the relentless hammering.

Looking through her binoculars, for her .22 was just standard iron-sights she could make out what seemed to be five or six motorcycles, and their riders dressed in piercing black fatigues forming in a circular formation only a few blocks away.

Her eyes pressed into the binoculars, her whole being panicking, so focused on the distant strangers that she didn't see the hunched-over creature and a few of its friends approaching from the shadows. Coming right for her childhood friends.

"Shit…" Phil muttered, sucking on his thumb, the hammer missing the nail by a mile and colliding with his hand.

Bringing his arm back for a second attempt, he felt someone forcefully grab onto his arm. Looking up abruptly, he met the face of a twisted dead corpse with chopping jaws. His brain going into panic mode, he screamed and fell backward over a pail of nails, the biter going down with him, the creature's friends following his lead.

"FUCK! JESUS CHRIST! God-damnit…SOMEONE HELP ME!" Phil shrieked, holding off the walking road kill with his hammer, the weight of it strangling his frame.

Kimi was brought back to the serious predicament at hand from Phil's bloodcurdling cries. Fumbling with her rifle, hands shacking like crazy, she could barely get a clear line of sight without hitting one of her friends. She cursed, trying to move her position to get a clean shot.

His fellow carpenters were already on it though. The "throat" of Chuckie's hammer collided down hard on the cranium of a lanky zombie, ripping the edged blade out and jumping back into the fight. Lil swung her bat, shattering a biter's leg as it fell to the ground in agony as Tommy finished it off.

Drawing his .38 from his windbreaker pocket, Dil dropped the biter trying to rip into Phil's face, drenching the frightened teen's face with blood and brain matter, and turned his sights to the road, putting down a couple approaching zombies drawn from the commotion.

"Clear," Dil called, re-holstering his revolver in his pocket, "You okay Phil?"

"Fine and fuckin Dan-Dee," Phil shrieked, getting up from the ground, "God-damnit Kimi! Your _one _job, your one fucking job to sit up there and make sure our faces' aren't ripped off and you fail at that! Is there anything you can do right?! Hell, you could have at least fired a couple shots with that rifle you got there and not just let us do all the work! Can you be anymore useless?!" Storming inside, slamming the door behind him.

Everyone, along with the city fell silent once again. Running her hands through her hair, breathing heavily threw her nose she glanced over again at the spot where the bikers once inhabited.

They were gone.

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What did you think? Thank you to all those who are reading and reviewing! :) You keep me going.

Until next time, Salutations -Crocy98


	7. Chapter 7: Headlights

Here is Chapter 7: Headlights. Enjoy!

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Eight days have passed since the whole "Phil nearly being eaten alive" incident. He was pissed beyond compare during the days following as they finished up work on the barricade and the "tree house sniper nest", but he eventually cooled down. No one can stay angry at Kimi for that long I suppose.

With the building projects finished up, the group felt a new sense of security. With eight feet of thick plywood between themselves and the outside world, it was like they had their own little slice of heaven. Some days it felt just like the good-old days when the only care in the world was passing that Calculus test and finding out if the new cute brunette in homeroom had an eye for you. It was kind of like "one long belated sleepover" for some of them, but not for Kimi.

Since seeing that group…that _gang _of bikers, that was all that occupied her scattered brain. She didn't tell anyone what she saw, out of fear of mockery for "thinking she saw something so stupid" which ended up putting one of the most valued members of their group at risk.

So she kept quiet and did her job, picking off any walker that came near the "construction crew", but always having the bikers in the back of her mind, which kept her on her toes more than the threat of the walking dead.

Every night though, when the laughter died and the usual shenanigans came to a close with the rising darkness Kimi slept with one-eye open. Awaiting their return.

Sometimes she'd swear she'd hear the cough of a sputtering engine or the familiar _hum _of a drifting car on the freeway, but when it faded from her mind exhaustion would immediately take over.

This night though, it was different. Kimi awoke to the steady glow of vehicle headlights peering through her bedroom window, making intricate designs and dancing on the wall.

All the blood rushed out of her face. With her heart beating out of her chest she reached for her rifle at the floor and slung it over her shoulder, running out of her room and down the stairs to the living room.

She cursed not moving in downstairs with the rest of them, thinking by staying on the second floor she'd be the safest if some biters managed to break in during the night. But in this case, if she chose to stay downstairs with them it would be easier for her to "sound the alarm" without wasting the precious time they had before a possible assault.

The slapping of her bare feet on the wooden steps brought every out of their slumber with a chorus of groans and curses.

"What the hell are you doing Kimi?" Tommy mumbled, his eyes blurry with sleep throwing his pillow over his head and lying back down in his sleeping bag.

"There are people out front trying to break-in," She harshly whispered, but loud enough to get his and everyone else's attention, "Grab whatever weapon you can find!"

Tommy's eyes went wide as he groped for his hatchet on the coffee table and tried to pull on a pair of jeans simultaneously.

Dil appeared as if out of the darkness, "You heard her." Repeating her words, checking each cylinder on his revolver for a round and taking cover below a nearby window, straining his eyes through the boarded-up window's gaps for any sort of intruder.

The rest followed suite, huddling with their weapons waiting for something to happen. Kimi stayed near the front door with her rifle, chambering a round and sneaking glances through the glass.

They waited a minute. The only sound that was made was their rapid breathing, and a single exasperated sob from Lil.

Five minutes. Nothing and they grew even more anxious with each passing second. Tommy and Dil debated on going outside to check.

"NO. Not yet, they might be waiting for us." Kimi implored to the Pickles brothers.

"Who are these supposed 'people' anyways and how do you know they're trying to get in here?" Dil questioned.

Kimi knew she couldn't say how she saw a motorcycle gang the week before when Phil was attacked, that would just make her sound even more foolish and untrustworthy. So she just said, "I saw their car pull up to the curb not even ten minutes ago."

Dil didn't seem to believe her, raising an eyebrow as if saying in suspicion '_Really…' _but he left it at that and went back to his position by the window.

Ten minutes passed. Still absolute silence and ignoring Kimi's frantic behavior the Pickles brothers escaped out the door to investigate. Kimi didn't follow them, but watched through the window wide-eyed.

Circling the front yard a couple times, coming to the conclusion that there clearly wasn't anyone there they opened the gate. With Dil maneuvering like a trained Special-Ops legionnaire with his revolver raised, the two entered the street, escaping Kimi's sight.

Looking down the road, and walking a little ways to search for any possible enemies hiding in alley ways or empty yards they soon walked back to the house empty-handed and with even less faith in Kimi's sanity.

"Sorry, Kimi, I think you were just seeing things," Tommy said sympathetically with his hand on her shoulder, "We're all edge these days."

Kimi scowled and was going to say she didn't "imagine anything" but she held her tongue.

Dil stepped up, "It's all clear people; you can go back to bed." That was followed by even more groans and curses than before, everyone irritated that they were losing their sleep over nothing.

Dragging her feet upstairs, Kimi stared through her window at the outlines of seemingly endless buildings in the every growing night. But just as she was about to turn in once again, her eyes became glued to a pair of headlights appearing in the darkness and turning onto the highway, quickly disappearing from sight.

She didn't bother telling anyone about it.

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Those headlights...who do they belong too and what do they want? Please review, your input is very important to hear, because it helps me direct the story. Thank you to all those who are still following my story here! Until next time -Crocy98


	8. Chapter 8: Aces High

Here is Chapter 8! The story will only escalate from here...

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A few weeks passed and the warmth of early summer soon began to creep in through their boarded up windows.

In the days following Kimi's whole "nighttime intruder" thing they soon realized they were running low on food. They were fine for water, a month earlier they found out one of the yards down the road at a pump that tapped into a nearby river. All I they had to do was boil it up in the fireplace and it was free of germs and good for drinking in under a half hour.

Even though this made their situation allot more tolerable, they were still desperate for food. Despite Chuckie scored a few huge carriages from the supermarket during the early stages of the epidemic, a couple hundred canned goods only lasts so long between six people at three, sometimes four cans a day.

They found some vegetable seeds from Chaz's greenhouse (because it relied on electricity and special chemicals to fumigate the stale air it was quickly one of the first things to go) and tried their hand at planting them. However because none of them had any experience in the agricultural field, it was really just allot of trial-and-error; throwing differing amounts of water on the soil and hoping something happened.

Thus, until they became master farmers, which seemed to be nowhere in their distant future, they had to rely on scavenging; which is a nicer word for "looting".

Using Tommy's mini-van, every day teams of two or three would go searching the surrounding area for anything they could eat or have a use for. They've been through residential houses, gas stations, practically burned down grocery stores, office buildings, their old school (they found some useful medical supplies there, basic stuff really, but a few extra bottles of hydrogen peroxide never hurt anyone), corner stores, a few Star Bucks, a tattoo parlor, liquor store, a couple churches, and even a Barnes & Noble book store.

There was nothing edible in that place, but there were plenty of books on farming and general gardening that Dil quickly threw into his duffel bag. God knew they needed as much help as possible in that field.

One day they "struck it rich", finding a toppled over eighteen-wheeler filled with pallets upon pallets of delicious edibles. Even though more than half the stuff was rotten produce, there were still enough cans of Campbell's soup and bags of rice to feed an army for a day or two.

It took Tommy and Phil the whole day to transport all the stuff back to the homestead. After a dozen or so trips though, seven miles each way, they finally got it all added up. The food in the truck was worth for than its weight in gold they all said, making them set until Fall Chuckie estimated.

Nonetheless, they kept doing runs trying to stockpile their little fortress, every day coming home with a couple cans and random, possibly useful, items.

One day Dil came back with one of those drinking-hats, with the two cup-holders and adjustable straws made to allow frat boys to guzzle down beers in record time, and then collapse in a pile of their own vomit even faster. "I'm here for the party!" Dil hooted as he walked-in with the most useful thing he found all day.

Everyone got a good laugh out of that and settled down for a hardy dinner of steamed rice and instant mash potatoes. They shared more laughs and ended up playing a couple games of poker. No money was used in betting (obviously, it was just small pieces of paper to them) but instead some flavorful hard candy Kimi grabbed from a convenience store floor.

Phil wasn't able to keep a straight face every time he got a good hand, ending with him quickly being kicked from the table. Kimi had no idea what she was doing, the only card game she ever played was Gold Fish, and because of this she ended up folding on a Royal Flush to everyone's dismay as she had no idea what they were freaking out about.

Also to everyone's dismay, Chuckie was dominating, he had a killer poker-face and seemed to always be dealt good hands. Tommy, a kid who played Texas Hold'em with Lou for hours on end every Saturday night, sometimes at the Senior center against former state champs, he never seen someone so "emotionless".

"Straight." Chuckie said, revealing his cards calmly eyeing Lil at the end of the table, biting her lip like mad.

"Damnit," Lil groaned, throwing her cards down, "Two Pair."

Still with a blank face, Chuckie dragged his earnings to his side and began stacking them accordingly.

"How do you do it Chuckie?" Tommy asked with a laugh, still in the game because he folded the second the betting got too intense for his small earnings.

"I have no idea," Chuckie said modestly, shuffling the cards like a pro, "But all I know is it is just you and me now." He added with a sort-of "Mr. Know-it-all" smile.

Chuckie dealt and they both observed their hands, both good, but neither of them knowing if they were going to be good enough to take it all. Everyone crowded around them, staring intently at the scene going on in front of them.

After a couple rounds of intense betting it came time for them to reveal their hands, the audience leaning in attentively waiting for the results.

But before they could make known the results of their game, the deafening roar of a high caliber pistol exploded into the room. They all jumped, dazed, confused, not knowing what was going on until their eyes settled on a middle-aged man, dressed in all black fatigues and with greasy paling hair at the foot of their staircase.

With a raspy voice and creeping smile, "I'm sorry to interrupt your game but me and my boys have some stuff to talk to you about."

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Who the hell is this man? How did he get in? And what does he and his "boys" want? Please review, i spent allot of time perfecting this chapter so I'd really appreciate to know what you think. :) Until next time -Crocy98


	9. Chapter 9: Smiles

I'm back with Chapter 9: Smiles. This chapter contains more violence and dark themes than usual, to inform my readers ahead of time. Enjoy!

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Everyone's eyes were glued to the intruder, their bodies frozen in place, not knowing what to do. They always talked about their little "fortress" being practically impregnable. Between the barricade out front, Kimi always keeping her eyes peeled on the road, and her and Dil always carrying guns on them, they were confident that if anything came near them, human or walking corpse, they were set, but their overwhelming confidence got the better of them.

Now they stood in their own living room, at the mercy of a stranger's high-caliber firearm who could drill a round through any of them in half a second.

"Now you kids don't talk that much, huh?" The intruder asked rhetorically, laughing aloud, revealing his crooked-teeth as he approached them with his pistol raised, a police-issued Beretta 92FS.

Lil was shacking, clinging to her brother who was trying to look strong but was as terrified as her. Her eyes followed every slight movement the assailant made with his firearm in hand.

The man soon caught on to this, "Nice piece I got here, right?" Prodding to his handgun, "I got it off a cop." Revealing his callous smile once again.

Lil gulped, her nails digging deeper into Phil's arm. The intruder found this humorous as well, "No worries little girl, this cop was already dead, lying in the road with a couple of them biters tearing into his intestines."

His face still projecting a twisted smile, turning his attention back to the group as a whole, "You guys have a pretty sweet set-up here, with that wall-thing up front and all that rice and shit upstairs," Nudging to the wide open pantry overflowing with dried goods with his revolver, "You must have a leader." His face became solemn for the first time.

They looked around at each other, eyes-wide and worrisome, not knowing what to do. In actuality, they weren't even sure if they had a leader, they just kind of made decisions on a day-by-day basis on what they all thought was best. But they doubted that answer would cut it for this skinhead.

"One sec kiddos," He said calling upstairs, "Hunter…Zack, get your sorry asses down here! We can look through their shit for as long as we want later, but we gotta focus on the matter at hand."

"Sorry about that-" The intruder began but was cut off.

"I'm their leader." Tommy said boldly, stepping up from the pack, facing the prowler, who seemed to be the leader of his own rag-tag group of scavengers, "And how the fuck did you get in here?"

"Oh, that was quick," The disgusting grin back, "And I guess you're not here for chit-chat, so I'll be blunt. Even though you got that impressive fence out front your backyard is just a poor chain-link that a grown man can hop in ten seconds flat," Stifling a laugh, "And by dumb luck we found a ladder lying on the side of the house and hoofed it up to an open window, thanks to whoever left that open for us." Nodding to the cowering teens hanging behind their 'leader' as a scowl formed on Tommy's cross face.

At that moment the cronies from upstairs showed up, pale-faced addicts by the looks of them with shrunken eyes and hollow cheeks, brandishing automatic weapons awkwardly as if they never fired them, which was probably true.

"So what you doing here then?" Tommy asked, feeling more on edge as every second what by, trying to buy them time to think of something to do.

"What do you think kiddo?" He replied with a laugh, "To take this sweet setup you got here for ourselves, which you all clearly seem to take for granted by the fun you all were having when I strolled in here." His cronies smiled at this, their fingers itching impatiently on their submachine guns.

Without thinking Tommy answered, "Well, that's not going to happen," Stamping his foot down, "We're not going anywhere."

The ring-leader laughed quietly, his smile suddenly fading as he lunged at Tommy. The whole gang gasped at the sight, Hunter and Zack drilled their firearms on them, shutting them up and the two itching to put a round in one of them.

Grasping Tommy's face, he smashed it repeatedly on the nearby kitchen island, his face turning a mixture of browns, blues, and shining black. Weakly raising his arm to fight back, the young teen was met with a bloody fist to his face and the screech of the gas stove being turned on.

Everyone followed the carnage, many of the group crying and the cronies watching from a distance wide-eyed, not expecting it to go this far.

Dil didn't know what to do, biting his lip to prevent tears as he looked away, he felt for his .38 revolver still in his sweatshirt pocket. He cursed himself for not using it earlier on this bastard, when the threat of two armed, trigger-happy heroin addicts wasn't hovering overhead.

Forcing the abused teen's arm over the blue flame of the stove, his flesh bubbled and peeled away as he screamed with tears running down his face.

Dil couldn't take it anymore.

"You had enough?" The smiling man hissed to Tommy, as the boy struggled to find words as his whole body felt like a melting candle.

"Yeah…" Dil said softly.

The middle-aged man turned, smile still plastered on his face to see the barrel of a .38 drilled on his cranium. Before his leer could falter a piece of hot lead splattered his brain-matter on the kitchen wall, his corpse falling to the ground like a ragdoll, the smile still visible.

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What did you think? How are they gonna get out of this one? Please leave a review, it is much appreciated. :) Until next time -Crocy98


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